The Empowering Women as Leaders scholarship program was established in 2006 by a nonprofit organization of the same name. The program is designed to help nontraditional college students afford to continue their education at Texas Woman’s University in Denton after taking time off to work or raise a family. To date more than 60 students have received the scholarships.
In addition to receiving financial aid, the scholarship recipients are paired with a mentor who provide counseling while they are at Texas Woman’s University and for at least two years after graduation. Women must maintain a 3.2 grade point average at Texas Woman’s University to continue in the program.
Carolyn Bundy, founder of Empowering Women as Leaders and a vice president at Intergraph Inc., stated that “many of the women we support are in financial need and typically first-generation college students. So, we are changing the lives of the women we support.” Bundy was a nontraditional college student herself. She entered Lamar University at the age of 25 and took seven years to earn a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science.
Texas Woman’s University is a coeducational institution but 89 percent of all undergraduate students are women.